French Open 2012: Watch Live Stream Online Of Nadal, Murray And Sharapova In 1/4 Final Action; Preview

Where to watch: Live coverage of Wednesday's play at Roland Garros begins at 8 a.m. ET on ESPN2, before switching to the Tennis Channel at 1 p.m. A live stream will be available throughout the day's play on ESPN3.

Preview: After a stunning day of action at Roland Garros, Wednesday's remaining four quarter-finals have a lot to live up to. Both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer survived major scares to come through epic five setters in their least-eight contests, but it would be a major surprise should their fellow title contender Rafael Nadal face a similar ordeal.

Favorite to claim a record-breaking seventh Roland Garros crown, Nadal takes on his fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro for a place in the semi-finals.

Almagro, seeded 12, has been mightily impressive in reaching this stage of the tournament without dropping a set, but faces a dramatic step-up in class against Nadal. That he has only claimed two sets off Nadal in seven matches speaks volumes for the physical and mental challenges Almagro faces in the matchup.

It will also be the third time in the last five years that the pair have met at the quarter-final stage in Paris. And, while Almagro is arguably in better form than in either of those previous straight-sets defeats, it is hard to envisage him seriously threatening the defending champion.

The day's other men's quarter-final promises to be a much tighter affair. Continuing the almost total Spanish domination of this half of the draw, David Ferrer goes up against Britain's Andy Murray. Though Murray is the higher ranked of the two, it is Ferrer who is the more natural clay-court competitor and has enjoyed better results on the dirt this year.

The sixth seed's greater prowess on the surface is reinforced by the fact that he has won all three of the pair's meetings on clay. Murray may have played some excellent tennis in dismantling Richard Gasquet after dropping the opening set in the last 16, but Ferrer has motored through the draw without losing a set and should prove too consistent over five sets.

In the women's quarter-finals Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova will be determined to avoid upsets that have afflicted many of the tournament's other top seeds.

Of the two it is Sharapova who will need to be most on-guard on Wednesday. The second seed survived the big hitting of Klara Zakopalova in three sets in the round of 16 and will likely face an even tougher onslaught against Kaia Kanepi. The Estonian has yet to make it past this stage of a grand slam in three attempts, but if Sharapova is slightly off her game, she could be fourth time lucky this time around.

While Kanepi is looking to break personal ground in her quarter-final, Yaroslava Shvedova is seeking to make a piece of French Open history. Ranked at 142, a victory over Kvitova would make the Kazakh qualifier the first player outside the top 100 to reach the semi-finals since the draw at Roland Garros expanded to 128 in 1983.

As she demonstrated in her shocking of defending champion Li Na in round four, Shvedova's current ranking is certainly misleading, having been as high as 29 before serious injury. But her memorable run is likely to hit a road block in the form of Kvitova's dual-wing assault in the last eight.